► Technological Innovation System (TIS) perspective became a popular tool to analyse and understand the diffusion of particular, mostly renewable, technologies and their contribution to sustainability…
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▼ Technological Innovation System (TIS) perspective became a popular tool to analyse and understand the diffusion of particular, mostly renewable, technologies and their contribution to sustainability transitions. The core of the current TIS studies comprise of the analyses of the emergent structural configuration (actors, networks, technology, institutions) and major processes (functions) that support the development of innovations. The approach is used to identify system problems and propose systemic policy and instruments to address them. The approach and the related empirical studies, however, suffer from a number of flaws. This thesis aims to contribute to the TIS literature by addressing four specific gaps. Firstly, it conceptualises and empirically underpins the notion of the system problems and systemic instruments. Secondly, it argues that the use of both concepts in combination with a coupled structural and functional analysis enhances and specifies the policy advice. Thirdly, the thesis demonstrates how the national delimitation of the system and a lack of explicit recognition of the spatial context in which innovations and transitions occur, impacts the definition of the problems and the related policy advice. Fourthly, it goes beyond the focus on emerging technological systems by studying problems of and policy for less developed, juvenile system. Its overall objective is to contribute to sustainable innovation through the definition and identification of systemic problems and instruments in renewable energy innovation systems that are in various stages of development and of differing geographical delimitation. Two empirical domains: aquatic biomass and offshore wind are used to illustrate the theoretical claims.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko.

► The main goal of this thesis is to facilitate a further understanding of how firms behind innovative technologies deal with different complexities in system-building strategies…
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▼ The main goal of this thesis is to facilitate a further understanding of how firms behind innovative technologies deal with different complexities in system-building strategies and the co-dependencies among different technologies, actors and system-building activities, while contributing to the build-up of a technological innovation system (TIS). In particular, it seeks to deepen our understanding of not only the strategies involved in technological innovation, but also the build-up of the sociotechnological system around it. Empirically, this thesis focuses on two different cases in the healtcare sector—personalised cancer medicine and point-of-care testing (POCT)—because both of these technologies serve as interesting examples of radical innovation and they require major technical, economic and social changes around them for a successful implementation. This dissertation concludes that technological co-dependency, co-dependency among actors and different system-building activities are very important complexities in system building that strongly influence actors’ strategic activities around radical innovations. Firms deal with these co-dependencies in building innovation systems around radically innovative medical technologies by applying different system-building strategies in knowledge diffusion, resource allocation, creation of legitimacy and in formation of networks. The choice of a concrete system-building strategy is a complex decision that does not depend only on a technology—this thesis shows that also the size of a company, specific system-building activities, presence of other firms in the same market segment, customer needs and institutional structure have a major role in influencing a concrete timing and strategy choice. This thesis makes some key theoretical contributions to TIS literature. It recommends that the three studied system-building complexities should become more central in a TIS analysis to better understand how a technological innovation system develops. Also, it makes a contribution to the literature on technological innovation systems by applying the current TIS framework to the healthcare field, as until now majority of TIS analysis have been done on the sustainability and transport field. Additionally, this thesis creates more detailed insights on how the institutional change processes develop within TIS and demonstrates that their role in the TIS analysis could be emphasised more to clarify the dynamics of TIS. Last, this thesis argues that the complexity of the technological field in general and around radical medical innovations in particular, should be considered more carefully in setting the boundaries of a technological innovation system so that relevant contextual factors in TIS analysis are not overlooked. This thesis also highlights a number of areas, where more fine-tuned policy measures would be necessary to better meet technological and scientific progress in medical innovation. These include the regulation of personalised drugs and diagnostics as one single product, clearly…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Moors, Ellen.

► Citing a scholarly movement towards contextualized entrepreneurship research, this dissertation explains and encourages new reflection on the entrepreneurship process and its role in the transition…
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▼ Citing a scholarly movement towards contextualized entrepreneurship research, this dissertation explains and encourages new reflection on the entrepreneurship process and its role in the transition to a sustainable society. The goal is to re-examine and resituate entrepreneurship processes through an Institutional Logics Perspective – a new approach to culture, structure, and process. Building on a two-year qualitative study with Dutch entrepreneurs who aim to commercialize bio-energy technologies – which replaces fossil fuel energy and reduces carbon emissions – the author provides evidence that to build new organizational forms that merge environmental and commercial values, entrepreneurs navigate their complex institutional environment through an assemblage process. An assemblage process is where seemingly coherent and stable institutional logics are assembled together to give new purpose and meaning to activities. This study shows how entrepreneurs synthesize institutional complements and reconcile or avoid institutional conflicts to construct new environmental-commercial hybrids. Further results demonstrate that to acquire resources from potential stakeholders, entrepreneurs use symbolic practices – metaphors, allegory, actions, and objects - to represent themselves beyond a functional dimension. They aim to gain a perception of legitimacy according to one or more institutional logics present, which, in turn, works to reinforce or subvert dominant institutional paradigms. More qualitative data reveals how entrepreneurs engage in institutional work to alter the arrangements and properties of institutional logics when their claims are seen as illegitimate. Entrepreneurs in small, marginalized groups are seen as sectarian associations that enact different modes, scopes, and scales of institutional work compared to entrepreneurs working alone. In addition, examining two longitudinal survey databases through regression analyses, the author finds evidence that entrepreneurs employing ‘clean’ technologies – alternative energy, new waste and water remediation technologies – are more likely to seek legitimacy by enacting strategies that go beyond product development. These legitimacy strategies differ from entrepreneurs using biotechnology and information and communication technologies. Moreover, entrepreneurs commercializing ‘clean’ technologies are more likely to view environmental regulations as a barrier to their development yet these regulations also significantly lead to venture growth over time. Ultimately, these findings have a number of implications into how, and under what conditions, entrepreneurs are able to access, activate, change, and/or produce new institutional logics. They work to explain how entrepreneurs create new organizational forms, alter the bases of legitimacy judgments, generate resource availability, and develop new sustainable markets.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Herrmann, Andrea.

► Our climate is changing. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been identified as an important technology to reduce CO2 emissions in order to avoid dangerous…
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▼ Our climate is changing. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been identified as an important technology to reduce CO2 emissions in order to avoid dangerous climate change. The implementation of CCS is however slow and CCS is publicly contested. This thesis focuses on the debate on this technology. In fact CCS is not just one technology, but a set of several hundred different CCS chains, having their own advantages and drawbacks. Some consider CCS therefore as a multi tool that can be used in all kind of different applications. For opponents it resembles more a multi-headed dragon, since each time one chain is eliminated, a new configuration arises. This thesis examines how CCS is perceived by the general public, politicians and scientists and unravels the underlying considerations on which their opinions are based.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Farla, Jacco.

► This thesis provides insights into the mechanisms of technological change by capturing the complexity that characterises the current technological transition of the transport system into…
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▼ This thesis provides insights into the mechanisms of technological change by capturing the complexity that characterises the current technological transition of the transport system into existing evolutionary models of technological change. The transition towards a more sustainable transport system requires technological change. Its realisation requires the production of new vehicle technologies by technology providers, the adoption of those technologies by consumers, and facilitating policy instruments. Technological change in the transport sector is not easy, as it is locked in into fossil-fuel-based internal combustion engine vehicles. Escaping this lock-in is difficult, because vehicle technologies are dependent on infrastructures, which are characterised by high switching costs and network externalities. Moreover, negative externalities inherent in environmental problems are insufficiently internalised in the costs of technologies, which is a disadvantage for the competitive position of more environmentally friendly technologies. In contrast with earlier studies this thesis explicitly addresses the infrastructure dependence of vehicle technologies. In addition the models cover the emergence of multiple new technologies; the compatibility between different old and/or new technological systems; the technologies that emerge at different moments in time; and the effects of significant incremental improvements in the existing technologies. The two main overall conclusions of this thesis have major implications for policymakers who intend to accelerate technological change towards a more sustainable transport system. First, it is concluded that the emergence of a large variety of radically new vehicle technologies that depend on a physical infrastructure may hamper the diffusion of any one of those radically new vehicle technologies. Second, incremental improvements in the environmental performance of the existing vehicle technology may hamper the diffusion of radically new technologies with a higher environmental performance potential. The first conclusion has two major implications for policymakers. First, policymakers need to support technology providers in the creation of a limited number of vehicle technologies, which preferably make use of similar infrastructures. Second, each of the created vehicle technologies needs sufficient support for infrastructure build-up to stimulate consumer adoption and generate the critical mass needed to replace the existing technology. Two critical implications for policymakers follow from the second conclusion as well. First, policymakers need to set ambitious long-term goals to keep the option of zero emission vehicle systems open. These long-term goals provide incentives for technology providers to invest in radical innovations as well as in incremental improvements in environmental performance of the existing technology. Second, in order to attract market demand policymakers need to provide an advantage for those radically new technologies with a large CO2 reduction potential…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Amman, Hans, Alkemade, Floortje.

► In a societal transition towards sustainability incumbents are often viewed as unwilling or unable to change, or even as actors that intentionally block change processes.…
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▼ In a societal transition towards sustainability incumbents are often viewed as unwilling or unable to change, or even as actors that intentionally block change processes. This dissertation focuses on the potential role of incumbents in successfully impacting a societal transition towards sustainability by studying the motivations and actions of incumbents acting as institutional entrepreneurs in specific sectors. Which actors take up the role as institutional entrepreneur in the process of sectoral change? Generally the innovation literature points at new innovative firms that try to enter an existing sector with new technologies that radically deviate from the existing knowledge base in the sector: so called discontinuous innovations. It is commonly not expected that insiders or incumbents are a source of discontinuous innovation, as incumbents have strong, vested interests in the existing sectoral innovation system and are therefore not looking for changes that can potentially overthrow this. However, the assumptions regarding the inertia of incumbents might be exaggerated. Several resources related to institutional entrepreneurship are authority, power, legitimacy, and economic capital. Contrary to new innovative firms, incumbents are more likely to possess these resources. Therefore, the focus in this dissertation is on the work incumbents undertake to attempt to enact institutional change. Four case studies have been performed in three different sectors: the greenhouse horticulture sector, the built environment sector (as mature sectors with strongly institutionalized settings) and the bio-plastics sector (as an emerging sector with an emerging institutional setting). Motivations and strategies of incumbents acting as institutional entrepreneurs will likely differ between mature and emerging institutional settings. In mature settings there are clear institutions guiding behavior and limiting change, while emerging settings have more room for actors to create institutions. While there are some methodological differences between the chapters, the overall research design follows a qualitative case study approach. The main finding is that incumbents act as institutional entrepreneurs partly because their view on what constitutes legitimate behavior changes and partly because there are no clear or dominant pressures determining what constitutes legitimate behavior in certain settings. Their view on legitimate behavior can change following their multiple embeddedness in different institutional fields. For instance, several managers placed more importance on sustainability after becoming parents. The lack of clear institutional pressures in emerging fields provides room for institutional entrepreneurs to shape institutions. Incumbents act as institutional entrepreneurs by (un)intentionally pressuring the existing system through collective actions. In projects, collaborations, and strategic alliances the incumbents further develop and diffuse their vision. The success of these collective actions puts pressure on…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Negro, Simona, Weterings, Rob.

▼ Causes of climate change and potentials to realize energy savings are known, but insight into underlying learning, organisational, and behavioural processes affecting the application of these innovative potentials is lagging behind. There is a challenge to open the black box of environmental innovation. The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, we pursue a better understanding of the interaction of an industry with the government, and second a better understanding of the structuring of the underlying learning processes for environmental innovation and the interactions within these learning processes. This thesis focuses on the Dutch paper and board industry because of its highly energy intensive process of paper and board production and other environmental topics, namely waste water and waste, related to the production process of paper and board. Over the last decades different (types of) policy instruments have been implemented. There has been an accumulation of policy instruments. In the first empirical chapter we study the (relative) role of an industry association in the policy-making processes of these different policy instruments. The results show that the role is clearly different in policy-making processes of distinct types. In the case of interactive regulation the involvement of the industry is largest and smallest in the case of top-down regulation. In Chapter 4 we investigate these same sets of instruments to gain more insight into the way accumulation of policy measures affects research activities and eco-efficiency. These results show that in general an increase in policy pressure results in an improvement of eco-efficiency, with or without a time-lag. To obtain more insight into the effect of individual policy instruments we shift in Chapter 5 towards an agency perspective and study the adoption of CHP-installations. The results show that for paper and board factories environmental policies are relevant, yet it is only one of the influencing factors. The most important reason appeared to be the high energy price combined with the cost price reduction or the threat of regulation. With regard to policy instruments interactive regulations had the largest impact on CHP adoption, and positive economic instruments are important as a stimulus. In Chapter 6 the process of engaging external partners during the adoption and implementation of these CHP-installations (i.e. how they organized their learning structure) is central. The results show that a learning structure that focuses on the acquisition of external knowledge in addition to supplier relations and own knowledge is more likely if the internal resource base is weak and if the technological complexity is larger. Chapter 7 shifts to the intra-project level and studies the effects of volatility of inputs on trial-and-error learning in the case of a knowledge generation project by means of a process approach. The results show that suboptimal performance of partners is best to be avoided because this will result in negative outcomes and the other way…
Advisors/Committee Members: Meeus, M.T.H., Hekkert, Marko, Vermeulen, Walter.

► To counteract the environmental problems of the existing energy system, more sustainable technologies need to be developed and implemented on a large scale. Entrepreneurs play…
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▼ To counteract the environmental problems of the existing energy system, more sustainable technologies need to be developed and implemented on a large scale. Entrepreneurs play a crucial role in this, since their actions help turn the outcomes of R&D activities into commercial technological products. However, whether or not different types of actors (technology developers or adopters) are willing to act entrepreneurially is highly dependent on the uncertainties that these actors perceive with respect to the development of the emerging technology. The central aim of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the role of perceived uncertainties in the development and implementation of emerging, more sustainable energy technologies. To analyse what types of uncertainty are dominant, a distinction is made between different sources of uncertainty: technological, resource, competitive, supplier, consumer, and political uncertainty. The thesis consists of four case studies on the development of emerging energy technologies in the Netherlands. The technologies studied are micro-CHP, biofuels, biomass gasification and biomass combustion. The results show that political uncertainty is in all four cases a dominant source of uncertainty. The importance of political uncertainty mainly stems from the frequent changes of the financial instruments aimed at stimulating more sustainable energy in the Netherlands. Technological uncertainty plays a dominant role in the micro-CHP and biomass gasification cases, since practical experience with these emerging technologies is still lacking. Uncertainty about the mobilization of resources (including financial resources as well as feedstock) is dominant in the biomass gasification case and the biomass combustion case. The entrepreneurs involved in these cases perceive uncertainty about the availability, price and quality of biomass as well as about the mobilization of financial resources from external investors. These uncertainties greatly influence entrepreneurial action. Because of the many perceived uncertainties, some actors (like the potential buyers and users of micro-CHP systems) are reluctant to invest in entrepreneurial activities. Those actors who are motivated to act entrepreneurially try to reduce the perceived uncertainties by initiating various sorts of activities (including lobbying, cooperation or knowledge-development activities). However, these activities are not always sufficient. The cases show various examples of entrepreneurial projects in which perceived uncertainties accumulated and the motivation of the entrepreneurs decreased over time. The reason for this is that different sources of perceived uncertainties can interact and negatively reinforce each other. In addition, various factors in the project environment (like institutional change or successful developments of competing technologies) can negatively influence the perception of uncertainties and/or the motivation of the entrepreneurs. These negative interaction patterns are mainly found in the case on…
Advisors/Committee Members: Smits, Rudolf, Hekkert, Marko, Koppenjan, J.F.M..

Meijer, I. S. M. (2008). Uncertainty and entrepreneurial action. The role of uncertainty in the development of emerging energy technologies. (Doctoral Dissertation). Universiteit Utrecht. Retrieved from http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/27666

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Meijer, I S M. “Uncertainty and entrepreneurial action. The role of uncertainty in the development of emerging energy technologies.” 2008. Doctoral Dissertation, Universiteit Utrecht. Accessed September 15, 2019.
http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/27666.

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Meijer, I S M. “Uncertainty and entrepreneurial action. The role of uncertainty in the development of emerging energy technologies.” 2008. Web. 15 Sep 2019.

Vancouver:

Meijer ISM. Uncertainty and entrepreneurial action. The role of uncertainty in the development of emerging energy technologies. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. Universiteit Utrecht; 2008. [cited 2019 Sep 15].
Available from: http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/27666.

Council of Science Editors:

Meijer ISM. Uncertainty and entrepreneurial action. The role of uncertainty in the development of emerging energy technologies. [Doctoral Dissertation]. Universiteit Utrecht; 2008. Available from: http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/27666

► Modern societies are encountering environmental and political problems in the sphere of energy supply. One way to deal with this is to support the development…
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▼ Modern societies are encountering environmental and political problems in the sphere of energy supply. One way to deal with this is to support the development of sustainable energy technologies. Since the development and diffusion of renewable energy has proved to be a very slow process, strategic insight is needed into how the emergence of these technologies takes place and how this process can be accelerated. The objective of this book is to gain insight into the dynamics of technological change with a focus on sustainable energy technologies. As the theoretical starting point, the Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework is used. The TIS is a structure made up of actors, institutions and technologies, in which the development and diffusion of new technologies takes place. For the successful development of a technology, a TIS needs to be built up. This build-up is understood as the unfolding of key activities, or system functions, that take place within the TIS. The system functions are types of activities necessary for a TIS to develop and to yield fruitful innovations. These involve Entrepreneurial Activities, Knowledge Development, Knowledge Diffusion, Guidance of the Search, Market Formation, Resource Mobilisation and Support from Advocacy Coalitions. The author develops the idea that the build-up of a TIS, especially in a formative stage, can accelerate due to positive interactions between these system functions. These positive interactions are called motors of sustainable innovation. The development of motors of sustainable innovation is studied in several historical case studies situated in the Netherlands and Sweden (biomass gasification, biofuels, hydrogen fuel cells and automotive natural gas). Based on these studies, a typology of motors is constructed. Strategic lessons are drawn that specify which interventions can be taken to support particular motors.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Smits, Rudolf, Jacobsson, S..

▼ The last decade was characterized by a growing awareness for markets for intellectual property rights, notably patents. Recent economic studies detect growing markets for technologies and patents and provide evidence for increasing international IP licensing activities during the past decades. Parallel, results from international surveys indicate imperfect markets and high transaction costs in IP transactions (Teece 1981; Gambardella/Giuri/Luzzi 2007; Motohashi 2005). One transaction-related obstacle in a market refers to uncertainty (Williamson 1979). Based on the aforementioned studies, this thesis investigates different facets and sources of uncertainties in patent transactions. The overarching research question is: Which uncertainties exist in patent transactions and how do managers cope with uncertainties in bilateral patent licensing and patent auctions? Using a sociological framework, the example of patent licensing on early stage drug compounds and drugs in the clinical stage IIa is studied. More precisely, the effects of high fundamental uncertainty about the innovation and patenting process on patent licensing transactions between US universities and German pharmaceutical companies are examined. Markets for patents imply typical market transactions which are standardized and do not require long negotiations between the parties (‘arm’s length transactions’ (Williamson 1979; 1981)). The thesis inspects valuation-pricing and cooperation problems (Beckert 2009) in market sales transactions of patents, notably IP auctions. It delves into the contribution of IP auctions to the formation and constitution of secondary markets for patents (Chesbrough 2006). Furthermore, the thesis explores different functions of patent market intermediaries in the secondary market for patents in the US and attempts to reconstruct the structure of this market.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Peine, Alex, Herrmann, Andrea.

► In order to take up the twin challenge of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while meeting a growing energy demand, the potential deployment of carbon…
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▼ In order to take up the twin challenge of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while meeting a growing energy demand, the potential deployment of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technologies is attracting a growing interest of policy makers around the world. At present CCS is the only technological solution that has the potential to substantially reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel fired power plants and other large-scale industrial processes. The ultimate goal of CCS is to store the otherwise emitted CO2 for geological times in the deep underground. By reaching its goal CCS can significantly cut back CO2 emissions from burning carbon-containing fuels which may dominate the primary energy supply until at least the middle of the 21st century. Despite the acknowledged urgency to demonstrate CCS technologies and the increasing amount of funding available, no fully integrated power plants with CCS have yet been built at commercial scale. The pattern of difficulty at the demonstration phase, whereby new technologies fail to negotiate the various market and institutional barriers that confront them, is often manifested in multifaceted, capital-intensive technologies, like CCS. If this part of the innovation process is not well managed, either by policy makers or industries, this might lead to the development of technologies that do not match market demands or the absence of technological innovation altogether. On the other hand if the innovation process is well understood, it may allow for shaping and accelerating the development and deployment of emerging technologies. This thesis is centred around the question of how to accelerate the development and deployment of CCS technologies, using a multi-disciplinary research focus. After all, the innovation process is not only influenced by technological characteristics. The social-economic environment in which a technology is developed and deployed – called the ‘Technological Innovation System (TIS)’ - is deemed of great importance. A well functioning Innovation System would greatly support the final market uptake of CCS technologies. So identifying strengths and weaknesses in the present Innovation System is of crucial importance to technology managers and policy makers that wish to accelerate the innovation process. In order to do so, the research presented in this thesis applies the Innovation System Functions approach. System Functions are key processes required for an Innovation System to develop and grow and, thereby, to increase the commercial chances of the new technology. In recent scientific articles published by the Innovation Studies Group of the Utrecht University, seven functions are discerned, each covering a critical aspect of technology development, namely entrepreneurial activities, knowledge development, knowledge diffusion, guidance, market creation, resources mobilization and the creation of legitimacy. For a better understanding of the innovation processes, in this thesis the innovation systems functions are used to compare the growth and…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Turkenburg, Wim, Smits, Rudolf.

► The current use of fossil fuels for the purpose of energy and materials production creates a number of pressing sustainability problems, such as climate change.…
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▼ The current use of fossil fuels for the purpose of energy and materials production creates a number of pressing sustainability problems, such as climate change. Therefore, the fossil fuel system is in need of a fundamental transformation. However, despite this need, the targets set by policy makers, and the availability of renewable energy technologies, the fossil fuels system keeps expanding. This raises the question of why it is so difficult to move away from fossil fuels. To answer this question, this thesis focuses on both institutions and incumbents in the energy transition. The fossil fuel system is aligned with an extensive set of rules or institutions that both enable and constrain our behavior and provide meaning to our society. An important characteristic of institutions is that they provide stability and resist change. Incumbents have heavily invested in the fossil fuel system and therefore have extensive vested interests. Incumbents stand to lose a large share of their potential profits when energy production shifts towards renewable energy technologies. Therefore, it is likely that incumbents will attempt to protect their fossil fuel interests. The field of sustainability transitions has acknowledged the central role of institutions and the importance of incumbents in transition processes. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between incumbents and institutions. This thesis focuses on how incumbents influence institutions as well as on how institutions influence incumbents. The theoretical framework consists of the institutional work and institutional logics stream within institutional theory. This thesis contains four case studies in the context of the Dutch fossil fuel system. The Netherlands was chosen for its stagnant energy transition and its many large incumbents related to fossil fuel activities. Our data collection includes interviews, newspaper articles, policy documents, annual reports, and organization websites. Analysis was conducted through categorization and constant comparison of the data in iteration with the theoretical framework. Multiple data sources were used to assure triangulation of the data. In terms of institutional work, this thesis concludes that incumbents influence institutions by cooperating with government, providing an alternative plan, framing private interests as public interests, commissioning research, and by speaking through the media. Incumbents are very capable at influencing institutions to their own benefit, and are more effective than new entrants’ institutional work. In terms of institutional logics, this thesis concludes that incumbent network operators’ behavior is guided by a hierarchy logic featuring operation according to the Gas Law, responsibility for safety and reliability, and preference for large-scale arrangements. Innovative practices tend to be at odds with this logic, as is the case with biomethane production. The implications of this thesis´ findings are that incumbents exert a considerable influence on the unfolding of…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Negro, Simona, Niesten, Eva.

► In Europe alone, 3.6 million animals per year are used for drug development. Animal studies are worldwide the gold standard to evaluate the safety, efficacy…
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▼ In Europe alone, 3.6 million animals per year are used for drug development. Animal studies are worldwide the gold standard to evaluate the safety, efficacy and quality of drugs before these drugs are tested in humans. Nevertheless the value of animal studies to predict risks for humans has never been extensively established. Nowadays, several studies indicate that the value of animal studies is often limited. Pharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities as well as the public and governments aspire to reduce the use of animal studies because of the limited value of animal studies and the ethical issues regarding animal studies. The development of innovative methods to replace animal studies got a boost at the end of the 1970s due to campaigns of animal welfare organizations that resulted in increased public awareness and the implementation of Directive 86/609/EEC in the European Union. This Directive requires that innovative methods are used when possible and stimulates the development of innovative methods. Ever since a diversity of innovative methods has been developed. Innovative methods nevertheless only incidentally replaced animal studies. In this dissertation we tried to elucidate why animal studies are still being used in drug development. To answer the research question “Which mechanisms explain the lock-in of animal studies in drug development?” six studies were conducted. In two studies we identified the barriers that hamper the replacement of animal studies in the current regulation. Based on these studies it can be concluded that, although regulatory authorities and pharmaceuticals companies have the ambition to reduce the use of animal studies, replacing animal studies by innovative methods is challenging. On the one hand replacing animal studies by innovative methods is challenging because innovative methods have a misfit with the institutional logic of animal testing. On the other hand there is no urgency to replace animal studies. This lack of urgency slows down the innovation process because it for example makes it more difficult to obtain resources. Because innovative methods have to be adopted in the regulation to replace animal studies the institutional logic of animal studies is the selection environment. Four studies were conducted to identify why animals are implemented in the guidelines for the development of drugs in new drug classes. Based on these studies it can be concluded that animal studies often have only limited value in the development of monoclonal antibodies. Nevertheless animal studies are implemented in the guidelines because the design of the development process of new drug classes is experience driven and not science driven.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Schellekens, Huub, Moors, Ellen.

Kooijman, M. (2013). Why animal studies are still being used in drug development. An innovation system perspective. (Doctoral Dissertation). Universiteit Utrecht. Retrieved from http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/287829

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Kooijman, M. “Why animal studies are still being used in drug development. An innovation system perspective.” 2013. Doctoral Dissertation, Universiteit Utrecht. Accessed September 15, 2019.
http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/287829.

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Kooijman, M. “Why animal studies are still being used in drug development. An innovation system perspective.” 2013. Web. 15 Sep 2019.

Kooijman M. Why animal studies are still being used in drug development. An innovation system perspective. [Doctoral Dissertation]. Universiteit Utrecht; 2013. Available from: http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/287829

► To protect their vested interests, incumbent firms have a history of opposing change, even when change is societally beneficial. Empirical research on this topic is…
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▼ To protect their vested interests, incumbent firms have a history of opposing change, even when change is societally beneficial. Empirical research on this topic is limited. In this dissertation we study the role of incumbent firms in the socio-technical transition to a more sustainable society. The development and commercialization of new, cleaner technologies are important for such a transition. But these technologies render obsolete many existing assets and competences that are specific to the established technology, which decreases the competitive advantage of incumbents. Incumbents that thrive on the established technology therefore have incentive to prevent the introduction of such new, cleaner technologies. The role of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions is studied by looking at how they facilitate transition through innovation, and how they influence transition through political influence strategies. The focus is on the automotive industry. Firstly, we studied the relation between competitive forces, that stimulate incumbents to innovate, and the continuation of waves of Clean Vehicle Technology (CVT) development. The findings suggest that competitive forces positively relate to continued CVT development. Because of competitive pressures, we expect the current wave of electric vehicle (EV) development not to collapse like previous waves of CVT development, but to be prolonged on the longer term. Secondly, we quantitatively studied what types of incumbents pioneer radical innovation, by linking their incentive and opportunity to innovate to EV sales over the period 1990-2011. It turns out that during the period that EVs were commercialized (i.e. 2007-2011), large car manufacturers with both a strong incentive and a strong opportunity to innovate sold significantly more EVs. Hence, car manufacturers that profited relatively little from the established technology and that had developed an EV asset position, were the ones to abandon the established technology first by engaging in radical innovation. Thirdly, we studied the innovation and political influence strategies incumbents used in response to public CVT policy. The case study focused on incumbent car manufacturers’ response to the Californian zero emission vehicle mandate over the period 2000–2013. We developed a new theoretical framework on corporate response strategies to public policy with which we integrate the innovation and political activities literature. Combining patent, sales and content analysis, the research shows that car manufacturers initially showed few innovation activities, but over time strongly increased their efforts. Their political influence strategies changed from opposing the mandate to trying to shape and/or support it. However, coalitions continued to oppose the mandate, as they were assigned to do the manufacturers’ “dirty work”. We showed that car manufacturers combine their innovation and political influence strategies in synergistic ways. The case study thus illustrates that the role of incumbent car manufacturers…
Advisors/Committee Members: Hekkert, Marko, Farla, Jacco, Niesten, Eva.